Billie Holiday

Object Details

Artist

Herman Leonard, 1923 - 2010

Sitter

Billie Holiday, 7 Apr 1915 - 17 Jul 1959

Exhibition Label

Renowned for making songs entirely her own, Billie Holiday once explained, “I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That’s all I know.” Holiday was still in her teens when she began singing professionally in New York City in the early 1930s. Before long, she was performing in popular jazz venues in Harlem and recording with some of the era’s best musicians. Nicknamed “Lady Day” by Lester Young, she performed with Count Basie in 1937 and became one of the first African American vocalists to headline an all-white band when she joined Artie Shaw’s Orchestra in 1938. A year later, during an engagement at Café Society in Greenwich Village, Holiday introduced “Strange Fruit,” the haunting indictment of southern lynching that would become one of her most iconic songs. Sadly, Holiday’s life was marred by struggles with drugs and alcohol, which contributed to her death at the age of forty-four.

Famosa por imprimir su sello personal a cada canción que interpretaba, Billie Holiday decía: “No me gusta cantar sin variar. Tengo que cambiar la canción a mi modo. No puedo evitarlo”. Era todavía una adolescente cuando empezó a cantar profesionalmente en New York a principios de la década de 1930. Poco después ya actuaba en conocidos locales de jazz en Harlem y empezó a grabar con los mejores músicos de la época, de hecho, el famoso apodo “Lady Day” se lo dio Lester Young. En 1937 actuó con Count Basie y en 1938 se incorporó a la orquesta de Artie Shaw, convirtiéndose en una de las primeras vocalistas afroamericanas con papel protagónico en una banda de músicos blancos. Un año después, durante una de sus actuaciones en el Café Society de Greenwich Village, Holiday inauguró “Strange Fruit”, una cautivante y perturbadora denuncia de los linchamientos sureños que se convertiría en una de sus más icónicas canciones. Tristemente, la vida de Holiday estuvo plagada de luchas con las drogas y el alcohol que incidieron en su fallecimiento a la edad de cuarenta y cuatro años.

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

1949 (printed 1998)

Object number

NPG.2014.111.15

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Copyright

© Herman Leonard Photography LLC

Type

Photograph

Medium

Selenium-toned gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 41.2 × 31.7cm (16 1/4 × 12 1/2")

Sheet: 50.3 × 40.5cm (19 13/16 × 15 15/16")

Frame: 71.8 × 56.5 × 3.8 cm (28 1/4 × 22 1/4 × 1 1/2")

See more items in

National Portrait Gallery Collection

National Portrait Gallery

Topic

Costume\Jewelry\Earring

Costume\Jewelry\Watch

Equipment\Sound Devices\Microphone

Artwork\Sculpture\Statue

Billie Holiday: Female

Billie Holiday: Performing Arts\Performer\Musician\Singer\Jazz singer

Portrait

Record ID

npg_NPG.2014.111.15

Metadata Usage (text)

Usage conditions apply

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm48b47839f-1740-428e-a992-c5ff8846aa90